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Friday, 20 January 2017

Become half-man, half-angel!

Moshe goes
up to Heaven to take the Torah down to Earth, and is challenged by the
locals.

The holy angels
turn to Hashem and cry, “What is a mortal man doing up here?”

The
Almighty, so to speak, nods and says, “Nu, Moshe, answer them!”

Turning to
the angels, Moshe replies, “Let’s see, the Torah says: You shall have no
other gods. Are there are any other gods
around here that you angels might be tempted to serve? No, I didn’t think so. How about this one? The Torah say: Honour thy father and
mother. Do you folks have parents?”

“Gut gezogt
(well said)!” declares the Holy One blessed be He as He hands over the holy
Tablets.

What a
wonderful tale! But at the end of the
day, if Moshe was a mere mortal, how did he enter Heaven? And he wasn’t the only one. As everyone knows, Eliyahu Hanavi entered
Heaven in a fiery chariot, very much alive!
How can physical human beings enter the spiritual realm?

Mishnah:
A house with an upper story, if the upstairs was ruined and the owner (living downstairs)
does not want to repair it, the upstairs tenant may go and live downstairs.

Gemara: How
much of it was ruined?

Rav
says: Most of it. But if it was only an
area of four handbreadths, the person lives half of himself below and half
of himself above.

Rashi
explains: It means that some of his tasks he performs below and some of his
tasks he performs above. Let’s say he
kept a box in the ruined area, he moves it downstairs and when he wants to use
it, he may do so.

Our Sages
explain that Moshe Rabbeinu was half of himself and below, man, and half of
himself and above, divine (Devarim Rabbah 11:4). That doesn’t mean he was some kind of centaur. No, he was the fulfilment of the original
declaration, “Let us make man!”
According to Ramban (Nahmanides), that statement was a call to Heaven
and Earth to join forces in the creation of a being that would be the
embodiment of the physical and spiritual realms. Prior to the advent of humankind, creations
were either physical, such as plants and beasts, or spiritual, such as angels
and celestial bodies. Human beings are
the unification of above and below.

But not
everyone reaches their incredible potential.
Moshe Rabbeinu did. Eliyahu
Hanavi did. Being half mortal, half
divine means looking and acting like a human being on the outside, but being
utterly spiritual on the inside. How do
you do that?

The key is
to constantly remember that you are in this world, but not of
this world. You are a child of the
Almighty. He has placed you here on
Earth as His ambassador to make this world a Heavenly place. You may appear to be mortal, but you aren’t. You are divine!

It’s not
easy to keep that at the forefront of your mind and behaviour. That’s why not everyone reaches the level of
Moshe or Eliyahu. But that doesn’t mean
you can’t get part of the way. You might
never reach their level of ‘half below, half above.’ But even forty percent spiritual and sixty
percent physical, or even ten percent spiritual and ninety percent physical, is
awesome!

The secret
to success is, never stop asking yourself: why am I here? Every action you take, every word you utter,
every thought you ponder, just keep asking the big question. The more you remind yourself of your divine
mission, the more your spirituality will shine forth. And it will become abundantly clear to you
and everyone around you that you are a cut above this world. That you are more angel than human. That the power of Heaven is shining through
your flesh and blood body!

It’s time to
start living with your head in the clouds!
Your Father in Heaven sent you to this planet as His special envoy;
never forget that your embassy – your physical body – still belongs to home
territory up above. May you live life on
Earth as the divine being you were created to be!